COLLEGE BASKETBALL ROUNDUP : Tar Heel Rally Stuns Seminoles

No. 3 North Carolina came back from a 20-point deficit with 9 1/2 minutes to play Wednesday to beat No. 19 Florida State, 82-77, in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Donald Williams scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half as the Tar Heels (17-1, 6-0) rallied after falling behind, 71-51, to remain atop the ACC.

North Carolina, which has won nine in a row, missed its first 14 three-point shots before finding the range and going on a 23-4 run to pull within 75-74 with 3:15 left. A steal and dunk by George Lynch with 1:41 to play gave North Carolina the lead.

“I’ve never had a bigger steal than that one,” Lynch said. “It was just a great opportunity for the guys to come together.”

The Seminoles are 13-6, 5-2.

No. 2 Indiana 61, Minnesota 57--The Hoosiers extended their home winning streak to 26 games to stake a claim to the No. 1 spot in next week’s college poll. With top-ranked Kansas losing to Cal State Long Beach on Monday night, the Hoosiers probably will move up to No. 1 if they beat Northwestern Saturday. However, Coach Bob Knight didn’t give a serious answer when asked if his team deserved the top ranking.

“I think we should be No. 1 in Monroe County,” Knight said.

Indiana (18-2, 7-0) is off to its best start since the 1975-76 season, when it went 32-0 and won the national championship.

Minnesota (11-5, 3-4) led all the way until Damon Bailey’s three-point play with 4:14 remaining put the Hoosiers ahead, 56-55.

No. 21 Georgetown 73, No. 9 Seton Hall 62-- Eric Micoud scored 15 points as the Hoyas (12-3, 5-2) beat the Pirates (15-4, 5-2) in a Big East game at Landover, Md.

Terry Dehere scored 16 points and Luther Wright added 12 points and seven rebounds for Seton Hall.

Syracuse 95, No. 13 Pittsburgh 79-- Adrian Autry scored 31 points and Lawrence Moten had 25 at Pittsburgh as the Orangemen ended the Panthers’ four-game winning streak.

Syracuse (11-5, 3-5) made nine of 17 three-point shots to prevent Pitt (13-3, 6-3) from taking over first place in the Big East. Pitt could have moved past Seton Hall.

Wake Forest 75, No. 15 Virginia 73--Randolph Childress scored 19 points as the Demon Deacons handed the Cavaliers their third loss in four games in an ACC contest at Charlottesville, Va.

Wake Forest (12-3, 4-2) made only one field goal in the final eight minutes, but hung on to win at Virginia (12-3, 4-3) for only the second time since 1977.

Mississippi State 80, No. 16 Arkansas 76--Freshman Vandale Thomas scored seven points in overtime as the Bulldogs upset the Razorbacks in a Southeastern Conference game at Starkville, Miss.

Arkansas (12-4, 3-3) led by as many as 14 points early, but faltered and absorbed its third consecutive loss.

Chuck Evans had 21 points and 14 rebounds for Mississippi State (11-7, 3-4).

No. 6 Cincinnati 78, Xavier 67--Nick Van Exel scored 15 points as the Bearcats won a crosstown showdown in Cincinnati.

Van Exel hit a pair of three-pointers in a 16-2 run that helped Cincinnati (14-1) overpower the Musketeers (12-3).

No. 12 Vanderbilt 82, Tennessee 65--Ronnie McMahan scored 19 points as the Commodores won at Knoxville, Tenn., to end a 13-game road losing streak in the SEC.

Vanderbilt (15-3, 5-1) got 18 points from reserve Frank Seckar. Corey Allen led Tennessee (9-8, 1-5) with 18 points.

No. 18 Georgia Tech 85, North Carolina State 74--James Forrest scored 24 points as the Yellow Jackets defeated the Wolfpack in an ACC game at Atlanta.

Forrest made 10 of 11 shots for Georgia Tech (11-4, 4-2), which led by 36 points before the Wolfpack (4-10, 0-6) rallied.

No. 20 Oklahoma 146, Florida A&M; 65-- Jeff Webster scored 32 points as the Sooners (13-5) routed the Rattlers (3-13) at Norman, Okla.

OTHER GAMES

Emmett Hall scored 19 points to help South Carolina (8-8, 4-3) to an 86-85 victory over Georgia (7-8, 2-4) in an SEC game at Columbia, S.C. . . . Alabama (10-6, 3-4) defeated Auburn (8-6, 3-4), 81-78, in an SEC game at Tuscaloosa, Ala. . . . Missouri (13-4) defeated Notre Dame (8-8), 73-57, at Columbia, Mo. . . . Iowa State (12-5) defeated Drake (8-6), 119-81, at Ames, Iowa. . . . Tennessee Chattanooga (14-5, 7-1) defeated East Tennessee State (10-5, 6-2), 87-77, in a Southern Conference game at Chattanooga, Tenn. . . . Rice (10-5) defeated Mississippi (5-9), 72-67, at Houston. . . . Illinois (11-6, 4-2) defeated Wisconsin (10-5, 3-3), 80-72, in a Big Ten game at Champaign, Ill. . . . Terry Davis’ 15-foot jumper with 17 seconds left lifted DePaul (10-8) to a 72-70 victory over Baylor (11-4) at Rosemont, Ill. . . . Princeton (10-4) defeated LaSalle (8-9), 65-60, at Princeton, N.J. . . . Southern Methodist (11-5, 4-1) defeated Texas A&M; (6-12, 1-3) in overtime, 68-65, in a Southwest Conference game at Dallas.